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Monthly Archives: May 2013

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It was a fairy tale birthday! Rapunzel from Tangled showed up to give the kids some cool entertainment, including face painting. But the greatest part of the birthday was Leah’s birthday cake! It was truly fit for a princess! Happy 5th Birthday!

Matthew’s Disney Car’s bicycle helmet was getting a bit tight on his head. I decided to get him a new one. While searching at REI’s website, I came across this one and the colors, I think, look awesome. It has room for him to grow into. Judging by the size of his smile, I think he likes it!

Hayley has been getting a lot better at pedaling her bike. She can now go pretty fast. I wish she would learn on the Strider balance bike, but for now she is having a lot of fun too!

These pictures were taken over a couple of sessions. I was using my dad’s 80-200 f/2.8D lens. It was a bit slow to focus under continuous focus. I was also practicing my panning skills. They need work!

After heading to Haleakala for the very last time on my own, my wife and the kids went to the pool to relax even more on the last day before heading home.

After the kids took their nap, the plan was to head a little more north to a restaurant call Okazuya. It is mostly a take away type of restaurant. It was recommended by a close friend, David and Nana Kim. We ordered 3 meals and some french fries. This establishment was cash only and we had to dish out $50 bucks. It is a little bit on the expensive side, but everything in Maui is this way. For example, our stops off at McDonalds, KFC, and Burger King for quick meals were at least $30 bucks for the family. $30 bucks for McDonalds????!!!

We could have eaten in front of the restaurant, but the sun was beginning to set and it was quite hot. We decided to head back to the hotel and eat in front of the gas BBQ grills we have been using all week long. It was more in the shade and it was a lot cooler. We enjoyed our last meal in Maui.

Because the light was softer in the shade as the sun was setting, this gave me a great opportunity to take some pictures of Julie and the kids. I used my 50mm f/1.4D lens at f/3.5, ISO 200-400. This gave me a shallow enough depth of field at the same enough depth of field to have my subject in focus.

After the kids had a chance to play at the play ground one more time, we decided to take a stroll on the walkway and take in the sunset. In the end we just walked down the path to the entrance of the beach. I took some shots on the beach, but most of the pictures are of the kids taking pictures. I had to use the flash here to light the subject because the background was so bright. It was a decent sunset. I have to say that all the times we have been to Maui, the sunsets in Ka’anapali haven’t all be that great. I believe it is the area, being more dry and clearer than any other part of the island.

It has been a wonderful trip and wonderful time spending time with the family. My BBQ skills are getting better than hamburgers and hotdogs. I need to work on how to cook chicken well.

The kids had a great time swimming at the pirate ship pool and a little bit of the adult pool. Hayley has gotten better about getting her body wet, but not the hair yet. Matthew was able to do some swim lessons with me and found out that he can stand in 3′ deep water and play around.

My wife got a chance to not have to cook much! She tried to read her “book” but she found it was hard to when she had to keep an eye on the kids in the pool.

Farewell, Maui. We had a great time again. We look forward to returning in the future.